The reasons behind the Hudson Drake series
- Hudson Drake is a way to vent my anger at the rapid decline in our natural world and particularly at the apathy of people who are intent on leaving it to others to fix.
- A conservation message and my love of animals in the wild
- Failure of humans to take the plight of the natural world seriously
Along with overpopulation and climate change, wildlife decline is at the top of my campaigning list. The 2016 Living Planet Report claims we have lost 50% of the mass of species on this planet over the past 40 years, all of it through the actions and consumptions of man. How could we have let this happen on our watch?
While I wrote the Kyle Gibbs series which is set in a climate changed dystopian world, I started to plan a series of novellas about wildlife issues e.g. trafficking, wildlife brutality, poaching, corporate greed and deforestation. And so, the Hudson Drake series was born.
It started with dolphins.
In 2009, an award-winning movie made us aware of the dolphin slaughter in Taiji. I watched “The Cove” and was horrified at the dolphin slaughter and the brutality of the Japanese fishermen involved. How is it possible that these sentient species are still not be protected? My horror was compounded by the guilt that at the age of 7 or 8, my parents took me to the Durban Dolphinarium in South Africa. Looking back, I had been part of the problem, and I realised that buying a ticket to any of these entertainment shows drove the demand for more dolphins to be captured and slaughtered in the killing cove.
So on the back of this campaigning against the dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan, I decided to start the Hudson Drake series off with IGAZI. This sees Hudson Drake, the lead character, experiencing his first dolphin hunt. A particular group of protestors, draw him in and his life takes a turn which sets him on a dangerous path.
Giving something back
While these novellas are works of fiction, I approached the series as a non-fiction writer. Dolphins were up first, next will be the Orangutans, deforestation and the corporate lust for Palm Oil. After that I’ll tackle Tigers in India, then Rhino and Canned Lion hunting in South Africa. I’m contemplating writing a novel to end the series off with which will probably focus on the deforestation and mining in the Amazon.
The purpose of writing these novellas is to donate 50% of the revenue of a particular book. The following charities will benefit from the series.
- IGAZI supports the Richard O’Barry Dolphin Project
- ORANG supports the Leuser ecosystem via Wildlife Asia
- TIGER Still looking for a suitable charity
- RHINO Still Looking for a suitable charity
If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy Climate change – the reason I wrote the Kyle Gibbs series
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